THE BLISS OF ANTICIPATION AND SATISFACTIONAh…the bliss of anticipation as Hyde House and artCentral’s campus are made beautifully ready for the staging of this DirectorCurator’s first Annual Membership Exhibition and Picnic, underwritten by the generosity of McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, recognizing art as an integral part of our community’s wellbeing. Special thanks to all who contributed their hours and creativity providing support before, during and after the festivities: Judy Goff, Reception Impresario; Gail White, Jackie Boyer, Helen Kunze,

Brenda Sageng, Kelly Heidlage and my phenomenal triplet interns—Katie Watson, Emma Pound and Maddie Capps--as well as Terry Beetem and Mike Burken plus his landscape crew. As our preparations quicken inside, art is delivered and installed. Our interns mount identifying labels and story cards. Jurors, Beth Simmons, Director, and Shala Rogler, Assistant, of McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, and Christine Bentley, Art Department Head at MSSU, arrive and make Awards selections.Outside, while The Great Wall waits to be unveiled, gardens are weeded, shrubs pruned and the lawn mowed. Chairs are scrubbed and tables, brought out of storage, are set up and colorfully draped. Magnolia blossoms are floated in the birdbaths. Alas, we are ready to party for our Annual Membership Exhibition and our 30th Anniversary RETROforward! Picnic.Then…voilà! Just as our guests begin to arrive, the heavens open with a deluge followed by shower after shower. Time for our back up plan!

Tabletops laden with festive picnic fare are hoisted onto our spacious porch and seating brought indoors to ring around the Galleries and throughout our lovely home. Undaunted, our Annual Picnic continues with celebratory conviviality as Members, Guests and Artists view art and cheerfully converse while dining all over Hyde House.

Members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition are enthusiastically welcomed, making a clean sweep, as I announce Award Winners, distribute cash prizes and invite each of the four recipients to speak of their art and inspiration.

Without exception, of the sixty-eight artworks on display, each one is of highest quality creating an exhibition I am proud to share with the many visitors who are finding their way to the Galleries of Hyde House, arriving from New Orleans and Indiana and Spokane and other distances whether by way of GPS or word-of-mouth. Indeed, day by day artCentral is becoming more and more a must visit destination for summer travelers. Looking for artistic inspiration, they find an abundance in our Annual Membership Exhibition.

Take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to see and enjoy for yourself the blissful satisfaction of homegrown art enriching Hyde House. The Exhibition remains in our Galleries through this coming weekend.